Everything You Need to Know About Paper Pallets

Over the years, packaging companies had to overcome challenges like high-moisture environments, multiple-touch transportation, increasingly heavier loads, changing machinery and the cost to develop, test and distribute better pallets.

Today’s corrugated pallet users benefit from the well-evolved innovation backing modern packaging solutions. Now, paper pallets are a strong, environmentally friendly, adaptable and cost-effective shipping solution.

The Different Types of Paper Pallets

Manufacturers are faced with a few options when choosing the best type of pallet for their needs. For example, should you choose wood or paper? We’re here to tell you corrugated pallets are more cost-effective and more customizable than their wooden counterparts.

You’ve heard that corrugated pallets are customizable. But just how customizable are they? Well, they’re designed to take on different sizes and shapes depending on your needs. As a very user-friendly option, paper pallets present different options for you to choose from.

Top deck options:

• Single wall top deck
• Double wall top deck
• Triple wall top deck
• Die cut top deck
• Honeycomb top deck

Runners are an important part of how paper pallets work. They’re built to fit any size and strength requirement. Custom designs provide specific support and protection for loads that are not evenly distributed on pallets.

Corrugated runner options:

• 2 way runner
• 4 way runner

Last but not least, the bottom of a paper pallet can be customized as well. This part of the pallet is based on your product’s strength and stability requirements. The cut of the bottom sheet is determined by the device you’re using to handle the pallets.

Bottom sheet options:

• Solid bottom
• Pallet jack access bottom

We’re going to be honest with you. If you hold out a single piece of cardboard and a piece of wood, there is no competition to the wood’s strength. However, good engineering is really about finding a way to make a given quantity of materials perform a certain function. Engineers continue to take corrugated paper and create resilient pallets of different shapes and sizes that can handle whatever you want to carry.

Think of a pallet as a really small bridge. You're using a pallet to hold something up without it crashing to the ground.

Some Facts About Paper Pallets

• 94 percent of transported goods are moved using pallets with billions of pallets in circulation.
• Paper pallets are very resilient for their relative cost and weight.
• They are mostly made from recycled fiber content.
• Like cardboard boxes, paper pallets and are 100 percent recyclable.
• Paper pallets are OSHA compliant because they are lightweight, do not use nails or staples as fasteners, and never splinter.
• Each paper pallet weighs between 13 and 16 lbs. That’s about one-third of the weight of a wooden pallet.

How much can cardboard pallets hold?

Paper pallets can support a load up to 10,000 lbs (about 4536 kg). For comparison, a standard wooden pallet can typically hold about 4,600 lbs (about 2087 kg).

Let’s put that in perspective. By saying a paper pallet can hold up to 10,000 pounds, we are also saying 15 lbs of paper can support:

2 Rhinoceroses (weighing in at 4,600 lbs a piece) 10 Grand Pianos (weighing in at 990 lbs a piece) 303 Bushels of Dried Peanuts

How can paper pallets hold so much weight?

Made with Corrugated Paper

What is corrugated paper? Simply, corrugated paper is a thick paperboard used for packaging materials. It is made of two to three layers of thick paper that are grooved and ridged in an alternating pattern to create a more rigid and strong paper material.

Corrugated paper is stronger along one axis than another (just like wood). Based on this, engineers can save material and weight by making different parts support each other. Just like steel cables are purpose-built to live under tension, so corrugated can be designed for what it does best.

Paper Pallet Design

A large part of the strength of a cardboard pallet lies in its design. Paper pallet runners liken to those of wooden pallets and run lengthwise across the pallet.

For example, paper pallets that have specialized cylindrical cores housed in each runner depend on this design to support weight across the entire pallet.

Engineers working on your application-specific design take into consideration the location of the load-bearing points of contact with the pallet (if the product is not equally distributed) and provide reinforcement through their core, or other load- bearing technology.

Because they are custom designed, they can be great for unequal weight distribution on the pallet and can be two-way or four-way entry to be conveyor and forklift friendly. It is also possible to make pallets with or without a bottom sheet. For conveyors (and other applications), the bottom sheet is great. However, removing it can create savings and allow more custom applications. Not to
mention that in the absence of a bottom sheet, pallets can be nested for shipment, allowing almost twice as many per truckload.

As paper pallets continue to become more and more widely used, you will see even more engineering marvels in the use of paper materials for the packaging and transporting industries.

*by custom application

Dimensions of Corrugated Pallets vs Wood Pallets

The standard dimensions for a wood pallet are 48 x 40 inches but can range from 30 x 30 inches to 48 x 48 inches. Regardless of the exact dimensions, wood pallets are always rectangles.

Corrugated paper pallets are totally customizable to your needs by shape, size and durability including weight loads, sizes, and stack heights. Typically you can choose from low profile pallets, light, medium and heavy-duty constructions, all with die-cut options to customize the top sheet to the product being shipped. Are you shipping a round product? You probably want a round pallet to ensure weight distribution and maneuverability around the product, about 1440 pounds of savings on a 45-foot export shipping container.

Because cardboard pallets weigh significantly less than their wooden counterparts, they are ideal for delivering freight and fuel savings, with more room for your product in each shipment.

Paper Pallets are Lightweight

Some paper pallets weigh only a third of the weight of a wood pallet! Lighter- weight shipping materials deliver you freight and fuel savings and can result in more product per shipment making them ideal for export. PLUS - if you have eco- friendly initiatives, all of these factors contribute to reducing carbon emissions.

Paper Pallets are Safe

Paper pallets are considered very safe because they weigh significantly less than wood and even plastic pallets, they don’t use nails and staples and they will never splinter. All of these factors help protect your people and your product. Switching to paper pallets can help curb workers’ compensation injuries, particularly hand and back injuries. Also, these factors help prevent damaging your products and product packaging.

Corrugated pallets require attention to proper handling which can translate to reduced damage to your product. One manufacturer reported reducing product damage by 60% after converting to paper pallets and upgrading handling procedures.

Safety of Corrugated Pallets vs. Wood Pallets

Because cardboard pallets weigh significantly less than wooden pallets, they are much safer for workers to handle. In addition, nails, staples and splinters all come with their own safety hazards and are only found on wooden pallets.

Paper Pallets are Clean and Hygienic

Paper pallets can be made using engineered corrugated products that are suited for cleanroom environments in medical, pharmaceutical and non-wet food applications.

Look for paper pallets that boast a strong resistance to moisture and humidity to help prevent mold and other hygienic issues. Water-resistant adhesives, heavy- duty support cores and heat resistant paper ensure your people and products are kept away from contaminants.

Using corrugated paper pallets can reduce the spread of hazardous materials in your facility and around your product and employees.

Paper Pallets are Ideal for Export

Wood can start off with contaminates like insects, fungus and bacteria. Of course, insects can make their way into anything, but because wood has often not been heavily processed, it contains much of its original environment and ecology and requires heat treatments and fumigation to be usable for international shipping and other food, health and safety requirements. Corrugated paper starts as a sterile product and complies with ISPM's phytosanitary requirements, so the only contaminate worries become what the pallet picks up from its post-process environment.

Paper pallets do not require these treatments to be 100 percent sanitary and are well-suited for cleanroom environments. Plus, these corrugated pallets are also made with non-wicking cores for added stability and moisture resistance in environments such as ocean containers.

Paper Pallets are Environmentally-Friendly

Adopting sustainable packaging and transporting of your goods can greatly add value to your operations strategy, help you grow your company and increase your global competitiveness.

If you are using pallets to transport goods to your clients or other facilities, you have a great opportunity in front of you to update your sustainability practices.

Look for paper pallets that use non-hazardous, biodegradable and water-resistant adhesives, and suppliers that are SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) Certified.

Paper Pallets are Easy to Recycle

If you are looking for a pallet to help with your recycling or zero waste initiatives, you need to look at what your pallets are made from. Paper is a very easy material to recycle, especially in comparison to wood. In most cases, corrugated paper pallets are 100 percent recyclable because they aren't held together by nails or staples and can be bailed with other paper materials like boxes and edge protectors. As a bonus, paper can also be made completely out of recycled materials; the sustainability goes full circle.

Over a 20 year span, General Motors required all deliveries to its 62 facilities use paper pallets. This aided in establishing GM's zero waste status and self-reporting $2 billion in recycling revenue, according to GreenBiz.

Recycling Corrugated Pallets vs Wood Pallets

To recycle wooden pallets, you must take them to facilities that can shred the wood. The recyclers must also have access to metal separating tools like a magnet to separate out the nails and staples for recycling. This can be quite costly.

On the other hand, feel free to bale your paper pallets alongside cardboard boxes and other corrugated packaging products. This can lower your disposal costs and can generate revenue upon proper disposal. This is a big bonus for corrugated pallets since they can generally only be used for one trip.

Paper Pallets Help Reduce Carbon Emissions

As ChangeThePallet.org so perfectly put it:

Pallets = Weight. Weight = Fuel. Fuel = Carbon.

Lightweight corrugated paper pallets can weigh up to 80 percent less than their wooden pallet counterparts. Using paper pallets to ship your goods in trucks or planes can greatly reduce your shipping cost - and the cost of transport on the planet. When your shipment weighs less, your transportation methods require less fuel to get it from point A to point B. Can you imagine the impact switching to paper pallets could make in the United States alone - and the billions of pounds of pallets moved every year?

Using the average paper pallet translates to 1800 lbs of savings on a 53-foot trailer and 1440 lbs of savings on a 45-foot export shipping container, compared to wooden pallets.

For example, IKEA®'s Handling Material No Wood (HM NOW) project made the switch from mostly wooden pallets to almost all paper pallets for inbound and outbound shipments around the world. According to Jerome Jansen, Packaging Requirements & Compliance Specialist at IKEA®,

"This has enabled us to avoid between 50,000 and 100,000 transport movements a year” resulting in a reduction in CO2 emissions by more than 550,000 metric tons since 2012.

For more details on ECT, check out the ISO 3037:2007-03, Corrugated fibreboard - Determination of edgewise crush resistance.

Compression Test on Paper Pallet Cores

This test is very important because the strength of these corrugated pallets lies in the cores.

The compression test measures what pressure causes the core to crush by applying pressure to a paper core with either a motorized or pneumatic piston. This way engineers get a very accurate measurement of the strength of a core.

Engineers repeat this test as they change the design and functionality of the cores.

Testing Assembled Paper Pallets

Deflection Test for Paper Pallets

This is where engineers evaluate deflection across the pallet's horizontal frame while it is suspended. This tests the top deck's strength in the area between the runners. Engineers look for the least amount of deflection across the plane of the unsupported parts of the pallet.

This is part of Virginia Tech’s Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design’s process for determining the load capacity of the pallet. Specifically, this is part of a bigger picture to test the overall functionality:

1. Conduct a stiffness test
2. Measure the deflection of the pallet under the test load at the end of the creep time
3. Compare the deflection to the performance limit
4. Adjust the test load to achieve deflection close to the performance limit
5. Compare the test load to the maximum safe load (The smallest will be your safe load or load capacity)

There are ways to minimize this deflection. For example, engineers can change the spacing of the runners. If the runners are closer together, there is less of a chance for the top sheet to collapse.

Water Testing for Paper Pallets

Another important factor is how much moisture a paper pallet can take. Engineers test if a pallet's performance changes while holding the weight of a full load as it sits in water. The objective is for the top of the pallet and the product to remain dry and, in the instance of our design, for the cores to avoid wicking. If the top sheet remains dry, you can assume the pallet still can support the weight of the load as if it had never gotten wet to begin with.

For example, we conducted a test of a 1000 pound load in ¼ inch of water for two weeks. At the end of this time, the pallet had not collapsed and could still be lifted. The corrugated parts would flex and warp, but if allowed to dry could retain shape. This isn't to say the pallet will "work" under these conditions, but will not collapse.

“Air Bladder Test” for Paper Pallet Strength, Stiffness and Durability

Prior to testing, engineers set a limit of deflection for the pallet to pass the test.

A pallet testing rig is set specifically to spread the pallet across the leakage point with a runner supported on a platform. The unsupported area between the runners is completely suspended. Above this they have an air bladder suspended on a rigid platen. The pressure from this air bladder acts as a general-purpose load uniformly applied to the pallet. The amount of deflection signifies the strength and stiffness of the corrugated pallet.

To give you some numbers for perspective: our three-runner corrugated pallet, with three cores per runner, is a 48 x 40 standard. It was rated for 2500 pounds by Virginia Tech’s Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design.

Note: This air bladder test represents a more flexible load. A more rigid load, like a big wooden box, could hold much more, even with this tested design. Also, we’ve made updates to our designs and expect our new pallets to test even better.

What about testing custom corrugated pallets?

Corrugated pallets are highly customizable. You can die cut them to fit your product or customize the top sheet into a tray to display your product.

For a pallet manufacturer, it is imperative to get samples of these custom corrugated designs to the client as soon as possible, while ensuring the updated functionality has been tested to meet the client's requirements.

The majority of the testing any pallet manufacturer does in-house will be for these custom designs. Because engineers keep component tests up-to-date, they can build custom designs pretty quickly to spec.

With corrugated, manufacturers have the capability to turn around a new pallet design in a day. A few days after that, they build a prototype. About 12 days later, pallet manufacturers can have a ready to test pallet sample at your facility where you can test it yourself under your specific circumstances and real-world conditions.